Judge Limits Economic-Loss Claims Against Toyota

A federal judge in California has dismissed most claims of Florida and New York plaintiffs who say that sudden-acceleration defects drove down the value of their Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles, Bloomberg News reports.

Judge James Selna ruled that Florida plaintiffs are eligible to sue only if they personally experienced an incident of sudden acceleration. He says New Yorkers may sue only if they had such an experience or can show they suffered a measurable loss when selling a Toyota vehicle.

Selna is overseeing the consolidation of about 300 federal sudden-acceleration lawsuits. Economic-damages cases account for two-thirds of those lawsuits, says Law.com, a Web site for national and regional legal publications.

Selna's decision does not affect those plaintiffs who have brought claims of wrongful death or personal injury because of crashes allegedly caused by runaway Toyotas.

The judge ruled previously that California law permits owners to sue for economic loss even if their vehicles never surged out of control. But he says Florida and New York laws do not allow such claims. Lawyers for plaintiffs there say they will pursue their lawsuits in New York and Florida courts.